Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife (eBook)

The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women

Hetta Howes (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
244 Seiten
University of California Press (Verlag)
9780520396593 (ISBN)

Infos

"Brilliantly revealing history of medieval women . . . Howes’s debut has just the right meld of insightful research, enjoyable storytelling and contemporary contexts."—The Guardian

"A history of medieval women’s lives as told through the prism of four exceptional individuals. . . .  throughout, the tensions of medieval womanhood strain and stretch—eroticism and purity, sexuality and motherhood, silence and speech."—The New York Times

Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife charts the lives and times of four medieval women writers—Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widow and court writer; and Margery Kempe, a no-good wife—who all bucked convention and forged their own paths. Largely forgotten by modern readers, these women have an astonishing amount to teach us about love, marriage, motherhood, friendship, and earning a living.
 
Reading the words of these four writers, Hetta Howes engagingly reveals how everyday women lived, survived, and thrived in medieval times. Who did they marry and why? Did they ever have extramarital affairs? Could they earn money and become self-sufficient? Could they be leaders? What did they think about death—and what about life and their place in it? Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife paints a vibrant portrait of these women, their world, and the ways they speak to us today.

Inhalt

Contents

Introduction 

1 • Knocked Up 
2 • Tied Down 
3 • Bit on the Side 
4 • Wanderlust 
5 • Hustling 
6 • Making Friends . . . 
7 • . . . And Influencing People 
8 • Having It All? 
9 • Death 
Conclusion: Afterlife 

Acknowledgements 
Notes 
Selected Further Reading 
Plate Credits 
Index 

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 7.1.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Mittelalter
• Schlagworte: anchoress • Christian theology • Christine de Pizan • Devotion to God • Education • female writer • historical perceptions of gender • Julian of Norwich • Lauren Groff Matrix • Margery Kempe • Marie de France • marriage • medieval misogyny • Motherhood • Mystical • Nobility • Poet • Society • womanhood in medieval Europe
• ISBN-13: 9780520396593 / 9780520396593